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His wife Yvette Cooper, the former work and pensions secretary, presided over an even larger departmental bill last year, of £506,000.

The Home Office and the Treasury also ran six cars – mostly Toyota Prius hatchbacks with the odd Jaguar for senior ministers – running up bills of £514,000 and £462,000 respectively.

LABOUR'S MINISTERIAL CAR BILL IN 2008-09

£694,236: Lord Mandelson, Business, Innovation and Skills department

£514,593: Alan Johnson, Home Office

£489,193: Ed Balls, Department for Children, Schools and Families

£488,276:Communities and Local Government

£362,790: Gordon Brown, The Cabinet Office

£303,129: Ed Miliband, Energy and Climate Change

The figures show the vast cost of maintaining the fleet of vehicles and drivers in the government car pool, which the Coalition government has sought to downgrade.

It claims that it can slash one third of costs this year.

The Ministerial Code of Conduct has been amended to encourage ministers to use public transport.

Lord Mandelson’s spot at the top of the league table is a reminder of the scale of his enormous Whitehall fiefdom, encompassing 11 junior ministers and dubbed ‘The Empire of Mandelsonia’.

Michael Fallon, deputy chairman of the Conservative Party, said: ‘People will be astonished at this disregard for taxpayers’ cash.

‘While Peter Mandelson’s department was lording it up in ministerial limos at a cost of £700,000 a year, Labour trebled the national debt and took Britain to the brink of bankruptcy.’

A source close to Lord Mandelson said: ‘[The Department of Business, Innovation and Skills] had more responsibilities and more ministers than other departments, so of course the ministerial car bill will be higher.’

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Bills for Labour ministers' cars rose to £6.74m as Britain plunged into recession